Elevating mechanism for guns having fine and coarse adjusting mechanism



A. KRUM Dec. 3; 1-940.

: ELEVATING MECHANISM FOR GUNS HAVING FINE AND COARSE ADJUSTINGMECHANISM Filed Feb. 18, 1938' I 7 V6 72 Z Of'I AZFreJ Krum PatentedDec. 3, 1940 2,223,891. NT OFF CET1} -1 I ELEVATING.MECHANISM FOR.GUNS'HAV- v INGFINEANDOARSEADJUSTINGMECH-- ANISM Alfred Krum,Dusseldorf-Ellery Germany, assignor to Rheinmetall-BorsigAktiengesellschaft, Dusseldorf, Germany, a corporation ofGermanyApplication Februaryjl8, 193s, SerialNo.'191,302

- In Germany October 22, 1936 zolai si (01. 89-41) stopping fineadjustment mechanism is con- The invention relates to an elevatinggearcomprisin .a driving pinion which can, when desired, either bedriven slowly for effecting fine adjustment of the gun elevation bymeans of a self-stopping worm mechanism, or can be driven quicklyfor'effecting a rapid movement of the gun, bymeansof a coarseadjustingmechanism independently of the self-stopping members, for example by anelevating lever tween the driving pinions and thecoarse adjustmentmechanism. 7

This is particularly important for light and medium anti-.aircraft-gunswhich must be capable of rapid elevation in order to follow-quicklymoving aircraft at short'range. In this case it must be possible tocarry out quickly with the coarse adjustment mechanism awide range ofelevation, for example between 20 and +90". With guns of this type, theelevating lever which hitherto was firmly'connected with the drivingpinions of the elevating gear would assume very inconvenient angularpositions in the different positions of elevation ofthe barrel, and thiswould render it very difiicult' and sometimes impossibleforthe gun layerto meat the same time the elevating'lever and the sight with which hehas to follow the aircraft constantly. Now, with an elevating gearaccording to'the invention it is possible, .as soon asthe elevatinglever arrives in an inconvenient position, to uncouple it from thedriving p inion, and to re-engage it with the .pinionafter the elevatinglever has been adjusted into a handierlposition, and tocontinue theelevating of the gun with the new lever position.

When the elevating lever is uncoupled care must be taken to ensure thatthe elevating pinion is coupled with the self-stopping worm mechanismforthe duration of the disconnection of the lever in order that the lattercan keep the barvrel in the adjusted position in spite of a tendency toswinging movements due, for instance, to muz- ,zle or breech loading.For this reason both cou- .plings,which render it possible for thedriving pinion to be coupled, as desired, with the fine adjustmentmechanism or with thecoarse adjustment mechanism, are preferably broughtinto such mutual dependence that when the coarse adjustment mechanism isinoperative, the 'self- In the known elevating mechanisms of thisstrained to be coupled with the elevating driving pinion. Two typicalshown in the accompanying drawing, in which;

Figure l'is-a part sectional view of the adjusting mechanism, n

Fig. 2 is a sideview of the mechanism,

embodiments of .the invention are.

Fig. 3 is a sectionalflview of a modified detail,

Fig. .4-is a cross-sectional view ofthe handle takenon li-ne IV-'IV ofFig. 1, and

. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the detent taken on lineV-V of Fig. 2. a1 i When slow fine adjustment takes place, the gun barrel (1, adapted'to swing-about the trunnions a2, is elevated by the elevating crankb-by meansofthe self-stopping worm b1, the worm gear-wheel b2, theclutch member be, the shaft be and the driving pinion In of theelevating gear which meshes with the toothed segment a1.- In

rapidmanual' elevating, the barrel is adjusted bymeans of the elevatinglever c, which is detachably coupled withthe shaft 01 by the cou- 174'"in which is adapted to mesh a toothed clutch face b4 on the clutchmember be, the memberbs being adapted to be, displaced longitudinally onthe shaft be, against the'infiuence of the spring be but not to berotated about the said shaft. The elevating lever 0 can be coupled withthe shaft c1 not only through the coupling lever a but also through acoupling dog dllFig. 2) which is actuated by .a bell crank lever dmountedon the elevating lever, andwhioh is. adaptedto en gage in notches01 in the notched wheel .07. k

All three movable coupling members 6,09 and 114) can be moved by turninga handle c6 on the elevating lever c. When thehandle C6 is turned, acrank 05 .moves arod 08 which in its turn adjusts the coupling dog d4 byway of the".

bell-crank lever d which is pivotedto the elevating lever. The couplinglever 09 and the. coupling dog d4 are connected with the rod, Ca in sucha manner that whenever the lever 09 engages in one of the notches of thenotched wheel 1C7, the coupling dog d4 is out of engagement or.vice-versa. In an intermediate position, both coupling members c9 and.d4 are .out of engagement with the notched wheel 07. Motion istransmitted from the rod C8 to the clutch member be by aforked arm 09 ofthe coupling lever c9, which arm en gages in a groove 04" formed in asleeve 4 which is displaced longitudinally on the elevating lever shaft01. The sleeve or in its turn hasanedge C4 so I which engages in agroove be on the clutch member be. A spring be normally holds all threecoupling members in the position shown in the drawing.

The handle 06 of the elevating lever and also the rod C's actuatedthereby are adapted to be adjusted and fixed in three pivotal positionsby means of a locking lever 06' which is arranged on the handle 06 andwhich, by suitable turning .of the handle C6, can be placed in one ofthree notches Co, Co, 00", Fig. 4, on the elevating lever c. Aspring-urged detent d5, Fig. 5, which is arranged on the bell cranklever which movesthe coupling dog d4 and which is adapted to engage, oneat a time, in three notches ds, d7, 128, Fig. 5, of the elevating lever0, makes it possible for the gun layer to feel and hear that adjustmenthas been effected into one of the three predetermined positions of therod Ca, that is, so that the locking lever 06 arranged on the handle C6of the elevating lever c has been engaged in one of the three notchesCo, Co or C0".

When the rod 08 is in the. position shown in the drawing, the lockinglever cs is engaged in the notch 00. When the rod is in this position,the coupling lever 09' and the clutch member be are engaged, while thecoupling dog d4 is disengaged. The spring-urged detent d5 lies in thenotch ds of the elevating lever c. This position of the rod C8 is calledthe initial position.

If the crank handle C6 of the elevating lever c is turned in such amanner that the spring-urged detent d5 springs into the notch 127, thenthe crank handle cs is in such a position that the elevating lever isadapted to turn freely in relation to the elevating shaft 01 while theself-stopping worm mechanism is still coupled with the driving pinion b4of the elevating gear.

If, after disengagement of the locking lever ca, the lever C6 is turnedinto the position in which the spring-urged detent d5 springs into thenotch d8, then the locking lever 06' can fall into the notch (30". Theposition may be called the end position. In this position, the couplinglever 09 is out of engagement with the notched wheel 01, the couplingdog d4 is, therefore, in engagement and the coupling member be out ofengagement with the worm wheel b2.

When the rod 08 is in the initial position, the gun can be swung aboutthe trunnions 412 by the fine adjusting mechanism, i. e. by means of theelevating crank b and the self-stopping worm mechanism b1, b2. In thiscase the elevating lever c joins in the adjusting movements.

When the rod C8 is in the mean position, the elevating lever is freelymovable; it can, therefore, be moved in any desired position in relationto the elevating lever shaft 01. In this case the self-stopping wormmechanism is still coupled With the driving pinion b; of the elevatinggear, so that no unintentional movement of the gun barrel can occur.

When the rod 08 is in the end position, the elevating lever c iscoupled, by means of the coupling dog (24 with the elevating lever shaft01, and the driving pinion 174 of the elevating gear, and

the self-stopping worm mechanism is put out of operation by thedisengagement of the clutch member b6. The gun barrel can, therefore, be

moved freely by the elevating lever c.

In the second example of construction illustrated in Fig. 3, the notchedwheel 07 of the elevating lever shaft 01 is internally toothed. Whereasin the first example of construction, when the rod C8 is in the initialposition, the

- coupling lever 09 is in engagement With the teeth of the couplingwheel 07, in the form of construction according to Fig. 3, when the rodC8 is in this position, the coupling lever 09 is out of engagement withthe teeth of the wheel 07. So long as the clutch member be is inengagement With the worm wheel b2 and, therefore, the worm mechanism isoperative, the elevating lever c is, therefore, uncoupled from theelevating lever shaft 01. Owing to its Weight the lever c hangs downwardor assumes a position suitable for ready seizure by hand and thisposition can be determined by arranging a balance weight on the bearingsleeve 00, and the lever c is not moved by the fine adjusting mechanismwhen the gun is elevated. If the rod C5 is moved into its other endposition, then the coupling lever 09 is in engagement with the notchteeth of the wheel 07. On the other hand, however, the coupling memberbe is disengaged, so that the elevating gear can be actuated freely bythe elevating lever c. In this form of construction the coupling dog (14and the bell-crank lever d which actuates it, are not necessary. A meanposition of the rod ca is also not necessary. The engaging anddisengaging movements of the coupling members be and 09" are preferablyso arranged that their periods of engagement partially overlap eachother in such a manner that the one member is not completely disengageduntil the other has arrived in the coupling position. Thus a position ofthe two coupling members which liberates the barrel is avoided. Theelevating gear according to this form of construction thus has only twoworking positions and, therefore, on the whole is simpler than thataccording to the first example of construction.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is:

1. Elevating mechanism for guns comprising an elevating shaft, aself-stopping fine adjustment mechanism for slowly operating said shaft,a coupling device to couple or uncouple the fine adjustment mechanismwith the shaft, a coarse adjustment mechanism for rapidly operating saidshaft, a shaft and toothed segment in operative connection with theelevating shaft, a coupling device to couple and uncouple the coarseadjustment mechanism with the shaft and segment, and means to couple onecoupling device While uncoupling the other coupling device.

2. Elevating mechanism for guns comprising an elevating shaft, aself-stopping fine adjustment mechanism for slowly operating said shaft,a coupling device to couple or uncouple the fine adjustment mechanismwith the shaft, a coarse adjustment mechanism for rapidly operating saidshaft, transmission means coupled with the elevating shaft, a couplingdevice to couple and uncouple the coarse adjustment mechanism with thetransmission means, and means to couple one coupling device whileuncoupling the other coupling device.

ALFRED KRUM.

